This
is the latest issue of "Holistic Vision". I am Floco
Tausin, author, consciousness researcher, and initiator of this
spiritual project. The focus of "Holistic Vision" lies
on entoptic phenomena, mainly on so-called eye floaters
(in ophthalmology known as vitreous floaters or by the French
term mouches volantes, see
pictures).We see these as easily floating dots
and strands in our field of vision. The close observation indicates
that there is a correspondence between altered states of consciousness
and specific appearances of floaters. Thus, the novel and provocative
main thesis of this project is: eye floaters are the first appearances
of a shining structure of consciousness within which we cover
a distance to our spiritual origin. We can see and experience
this way. As an object of concentration and meditation, these
dots and strands are therefore a significant key to our consciousness
development.

The
aim of this article is to consider the meaning of the subtle characteristics
of eye floaters, as conveyed by mystic and seer Nestor. Suggesting that
floaters can be relevant not only for individual spirituality, but for
society and ophthalmology as well, I address the following questions:
How do floaters relate to entoptic phenomena which are known to
have spiritual relevance in some indigenous shamanic societies?
Does Nestor’s claims about floaters require a modified ophthalmological
interpretation? And: To what extent is it reasonable to think of floaters
as a spiritual phenomenon?

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Reader’s Hints, Experiences,
and Pictures

E-mail from Nova

The following feedback
was sent by reader Nova.

“[…] When you describe floaters “lighting up”
– please explain further. Do they glow even against a dark background,
or only when illuminated by external light or in front of a light colored
background? For example, the thinnest strands of my floaters certainly
do seem whiter than the background, but they do not remain white when
in front of a dark background. So that whiteness appears to come from
the external light not the internal light. Is this the “lighting
up” you mean? Do you mean they glow in the dark too? […]”

The floaters
we're talking about may light up in all circumstances. There are outer
and inner conditions that help reaching that state. Day light helps
make them light up, but so does your state of mind or your state of
concentration, or the level of energy, it's hard to tell what it really
is. I suppose that sun light intensifies the energy metabolism increasing
the chance for lighting up the floaters. On the other hand, in the same
outer lighting conditions, one and the same string or dot may appear
transparent at fist, and after a few seconds of concentration become
smaller and light up. If the floaters shine, they are brighter than
anything and you can see them anywhere.

You can see
floaters in the dark, too, but it's harder to see exactly the same shapes.
I can see only my upper floaters, a conglomeration of small dots and
strings that shine very bright by day light. In the dark they shine
in a blue colored light. This light tends to cross the limits of the
dot hull. What an untrained eye sees is just a blue colored speck or
cloud in the dark. Physiologically, this may be called "phosphenes"
(which is said to be neuronal discharges ...).

Until now, I didn’t
manage to verify if all the floaters which appear to me during daytime
really can be seen at night. Maybe they do only if the energy metabolism
is high enough, like it is in altered states of consciousness. I think
that whatever the outer conditions, it's also necessary to practise
inner transformation to see the light in this structure.

Floco

Thank You, Nova,
for your report!

Dear readers,
do you have personal experiences with eye floaters or other entoptic
phenomena? Or any suggestions what they could be? Send your hints, experiences
and/or pictures to me, I am very interested.

Eye floaters
and their meaning were interpreted differently depending on the time,
culture and personality of the observer. We learn a spiritually meaningful
perspective about floaters from Nestor, the seer, with whom I have studied
and whose teachings I recorded in the book „Mouches volantes
– Eye Floaters as Shining Structure of Consciousness“.
In this category, a particular statement from the book on floaters shall
be presented and explained.

“»In order to recognize what
this structure really is, it needs more than just the physical
eyes; it needs the inner sense,« he explained. »The
inner sense is like an inner eye. A person having trained
his inner sense to perfection is a seer. He has trained
his inner sense by concen¬trating, time and again, on the
basic structure; because the moment he completely focuses on it,
he withdraws energy from his outer senses and directs it to the
inner sense.«”

How do we perceive
floaters? From the point of view of our everyday understanding, there
is no question: Apparently, we see the dots and strings with our eyes.
For Nestor, however, there is yet another dimension of visual perception,
apart from the bodily one: seeing with the “inner sense”,
as he calls it. This is consistent with existing spiritual ideas stating
that human beings are able to develop a kind of perception that goes beyond
the physical senses. It is a subtle perception, detecting subtle phenomena.
Probably the best known and most widely used metaphor for this is the
“third eye” which corresponds to Nestor’s “inner
sense”. According to Nestor, the inner sense interacts with the
“external senses” such as seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting
and touching. According to the seers’ teachings about the “energy
metabolism”, our sense activity consumes energy. Withdrawing the
senses from the material sense objects – as is practiced in meditation
– reduces this constant energy consumption temporarily. The released
energy flows to other psychic or mental functions, e.g. feeling and thinking
are often intensified. In order to develop the inner sense, the mind is
directed on an inner object of meditation. This can be, for example, a
thought, a mental image or an inner sound.

The seers
recommend to focus attention on an inner visual phenomena, i.e. on entoptic
phenomena such as floaters. By focusing on floaters, the inner
sense is developed, and the subtle objects of inner vision appear more
intensively. By and by, practitioners perceive floaters differently, unlike
those who look at their dots and strands using their corporal eyes only.
Therefore, Nestor believes that the true nature of the floaters is revealed
only to those who develop their inner sense.

In the seers’
interpretation, seeing floaters informs the beholder about the state of
development of the inner sense. In my second book, I will describe a particular
constellation of floaters which, when perceived, signifies to the seer
to have “perfectly” unfolded the inner sense and thus to be
a “seer”.

The
category "Quarterly Picture" introduces realistic, artistic,
and/or spiritual/religious representations from different cultures
and times which could show entoptic phenomena, or be inspired by it.

The Russian painter and art theorist Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1944)
counts as one of the founder of abstract art. Influenced by Monet’s
impressionism, he experimented with alternative styles of painting
in the early 20th century, a time of increasing uncertainty and crisis.
Color and form in Kandinsky’s paintings increasingly emancipated
from the figurative representation and became objects of their own.
In the 1920s, this development culminated in the geometric and mathematical
abstraction – Kandinsky moved away from any representation.
Although his “First Abstract Watercolor” (1910) was not
the first abstract work of the new movement, Kandinsky was first in
realizing a sophisticated program of abstract art which he theoretically
established in his essay “Concerning the Spiritual in Art”
(original German title: Über das Geistige in der Kunst,
1911). Here he states that the task of art is not to represent reality,
but to allow room to the “inner need” (innere Notwendigkeit),
to convey this “inner” (das Innerliche) and to
bring about the “epoch of the great spirit” (Epoche
des grossen Geistigen). Spirit has to overcome matter, as form
has to overcome content. Kandinsky, who was influenced by Theosophy,
hoped to find the access to pure form, pure color, and, thus, pure
spirit in nonfigurative painting.

Yet, as Picasso
said: “There is no abstract art, art is always based on something”
– and possibly, Kandinsky’s art is, at least partially,
based on entoptic phenomena. Archaeologist David Whitely (theory of
rock art and phosphenes) and art historian Ana Iribas argue that Kandinsky
had knowledge of entoptic phenomena and was affected by them.
Another indication is Kandinsky’s synaesthetic ability: Evidently,
synesthesia can be described – like entoptic phenomena –
as a side effect of more intensified consciousness states. It is thus
conceivable that individuals with synaesthetic abilities experience
more distinctive entoptic phenomena.

Thus, the
painting above could mean more than Kandinsky would let us know; more
than his statement about the meaning of circles as synthesis of the
concentric and eccentric; more than the interpretation of the painting
as flare-up of disintegrated orchestra sounds in a tense big break
– it could mean that Kandinsky was inspired by a simple, yet
impressive visual experience: the perception of phosphenes or afterimages;
and that, to him, entoptic phenomena represent the ideals of abstract
art: form without content, and the overcoming of matter.

You will find this and other pictures in the gallery.
Do you have drawings of eye floaters or other entoptic phenomena (flying
corpuscles, afterimages etc.)? Do you know of realistic, artistic,
and religious representations of such appearances? Then send
me the picture or give me the tip; I would like to publish
it in the newsletter and/or in the gallery.

You’ll
find a complete list with all previous publications in German
and English (monographs, anthologies, magazines) at Website.
These articles are also available in the member
area.

Entoptic
phenomena as universal trance phenomena.
In many ages and cultures, entoptic phenomena were seen and interpreted
by spiritual women and men during altered states of consciousness.
This article presents facts and thoughts about the scientific
study of Palaeolithic and contemporary shaman art which is suggested
to be inspired by entoptic phenomena.

And
many blessings to you, dear Sherry, and to all of you, dear
readers. Have tingly, yet contemplative “holy”
days. May your floaters light up like new born stars, and
may this light touch and inspire the people close to you.